Avalanche
by rusticautumn
Summary: Set before An Unexpected Journey. Kili is caught in an avalanche while out hunting in the Blue Mountains.
1. Prologue

**A/N - Apologies for the long absence... work/rl got in the way. However, once I start something I have to finish it so by publishing this I know I'll actually write the rest of it. I'll aim to update regularly (at least once a week, more often if I can).**

**So... here we go. Short-ish prologue to get started :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hobbit, Middle Earth, or any characters contained within, as much as I wish I did. I am not making a profit.**

* * *

It was funny really.

An avalanche was a cascade of snow. Endless. Unstoppable. It was a huge wave of white ice that blistered down the side of the mountain, throwing hunks of rock before its path.

He had expected that. He wasn't sure why, but he had been ready for that… the extreme white, the sharp stinging pain that attacked him, even through the thick layers of his clothes. But the noise…

It was funny. He'd been told stories of avalanches. Great hulking things that only Mahal would have the strength to stop. The rumbling… he thought he knew what an avalanche was, thought that he could imagine it in his mind's eye… but the rumbling… he could never imagine that.

When he heard it, _really_ heard it, he'd laughed. He stopped running… running wouldn't help him now. He was trapped. He had nowhere to go. He stopped and turned and laughed because the _noise_… the _noise_ was so unexpected. It was louder than anything he could ever have imagined.

Thinking back he wondered why he hadn't kept moving. Maybe there was the smallest of chances that he could have escaped it. But he knew still what he'd known the moment that seismic thundering had reached his ears, growing so loud he couldn't even hear his own voice… his own laughter… there had been no way to escape… there had been nowhere to go.

The wall of snow had engulfed him, the ice had pierced him, and he had found himself suddenly breathless as he was whipped about beneath the white currents, falling thousands of feet in mere seconds with a crushing weight pushing against him. Blind, he had seen nothing… but the noise… that was still there, splintering his eardrum with its incessant roar.

He felt his leg twist impossibly. He couldn't hear the crack over the din of the avalanche, but he certainly felt it… a rush of white hot pain shooting up from his leg as he felt the queer sensation of bone snapping and pushing against the skin. Had he had breath to give he would have gasped. Instead he went quite dizzy.

He felt a hard pain against his head. His mind flooded with pain… fractured… unable to think. But as he drifted off he could still hear it…

The roar of the avalanche chased him into unconsciousness.

/

When Kili awoke he couldn't see anything.

He felt cold. Chilled to the bone… and he shivered. The movement caused his leg to scream in pain and, this time, he did gasp.

It was an empty sound. It was quiet, but it echoed in his ears… it echoed off the silent walls of his grave built from snow.


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hobbit/Middle Earth or the characters contained within. I am not making a profit.**

* * *

The growl echoed loudly across the entire mountain, and finally reached Thorin's ears with a faint whisper. He looked up from his work to see the flurry of snow cascading down the mountainside and watched its flow with a mixture of awe and appreciation; only nature was capable of matching Mahal's strength.

Finally the flood of snow disappeared from sight, the mountainside unmoving once more, and a few moments later, so too, did the roar of the avalanche leave his ears with only the gentle wind left to interrupt the silence.

He watched the white sheet of the mountain for a few moments longer and then turned back to his work, lifting his hammer.

/\/\/\/\/\

Fear encroached on Kili as he found nothing but darkness before him.

Carefully, he shifted a little, to take the remaining weight off his leg. He probed the damaged leg, just above his boots, and bit his lip hard as his investigation caused the pain to flare up once more. His leg was broken, of that he was certain, but his heart fell as he fingers found the sharp splintered end of bone that now protruded from his skin, having also pieced through his breeches.

'Not good,' he muttered to himself, the words sounding loud in his silent tomb. 'Really not good.' His voice sounded strange to him, almost as if he shouldn't be talking at all, and he quietened, as he panted desperately in the dark hollow.

He extended his arm above him, and found compact snow less than an arm's length above his seated position. Not enough room to stand then, he thought. His back was to a wall of snow and ice, as was his left side, but when he reached out his right arm he met no resistance. His legs, too, were fully extended, so although he couldn't stand he did, at least, have a little room to move.

He wanted to investigate further, to see how much room he really had, but when he tried to slide away from the wall his leg pleaded otherwise.

'Alright,' he whispered. 'Think this through. Go slow.'

First things first: fix his leg. Not literally fix it, even Oin wasn't that skilled a physician, but he could at least bind it. It occurred to him that he couldn't tell if it was bleeding much, but asserted that he would feel more lightheaded if he was bleeding badly.

He'd lost his pack; somehow that had come off as he'd been whisked away down the mountain side, but he found his hunting knife still in the sheathe on his belt. He still had his bow, although he could feel that it had broken in his fall. He grieved for the damage; it had been a gift from Balin, with beautiful etchings running along the grain of the wood. His quiver, too, had survived somewhat intact, although he could not say the same for his arrows.

Plenty of weapons but no food or water, although he had only a meagre supply in his pack anyway; he had been due to return home that same evening.

'They'll realise I'm missing,' he tried to reassure himself. 'They'll notice when I don't return.' He tried not to think about the fact that the mountain side was huge; there was no way they would easily find him beneath the snow, and then there was the issue of the air. Kili had been trying not to think about it, but no light meant there were no gaps to the surface, not even small ones, and that meant there was no more air.

'Stop it,' he scolded himself as his thoughts wandered into dangerous territory. 'First things first: leg. Air can wait.' He was avoiding the issue, but he didn't care; at the end of the day, he also knew he wasn't going to manage much if he didn't sort out his damaged limb.

He unfastened his outer jacket and then, using his knife, he tore pieces of his shirt away from his underclothes, before refastening his outer clothes. The furs and fabrics were damp, but the layers still kept him a least on the right side of zero degrees. Disentangling his broken bow from his back, he cut the string away and then cut the wood in half as best he could without his eyesight.

'Sorry Balin,' he whispered his apology. 'It was a beautiful bow.'

He carefully splinted his lower leg using the broken limbs of his bow, and wrapped around the fabric from his shirt, before fixing everything in place with the string of his bow. He pulled the string tight and groaned as his leg throbbed painfully. When he was done he slumped back against the cold wall and gasped in a few heavy breaths before finally getting control of his breathing.

He pushed his damp hair out of his face and felt the warm sticky liquid that clung to the roots of his hair.

'Oh yeah,' he grumbled. 'I got hit in the head too.' It was stupid, really, to be talking to himself, but he needed the conversation. Besides, no one was going to make fun of him for it down here.

He lifted his hand once more and probed his head until he found the gash just beneath the hairline. It wasn't too big and it appeared to have stopped bleeding so he left it along.

'Step Two,' he said aloud, 'how big is this place?'

His leg now splinted, he found it slightly easier to move. It was still painful by all means, but it was a manageable kind of pain. Moving slowly and deliberately he traced the walls of his prison.

He found that it was large enough for him to fully lie down, but not much longer than that. The right wall, however, took some finding, and as he shuffled along in the dark, it took him a good minute to find the wall of snow. At this side of the small space, the ceiling also lifted, so he would have been able to stand, while bent over, if his leg had been able to support him.

The space was considerably large given that he had been wiped out by an avalanche. He didn't know much about them if he was honest, but he was certain that he should have less space to manoeuvre.

He pushed himself onto his right foot and held onto the icy wall for balance. He traced his hands across the surface of the ceiling above him, and then he felt it; a gravelly texture… rock.

He almost laughed out loud.

He was in a cave! By some miracle the path of the avalanche had pushed him into a cave.

He was still trapped, yes, but he wasn't buried, or at least, not as buried as he had thought. A cave he could work with.


	3. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Hobbit and I am not making a profit.**

* * *

Thorin was closing down the forge as twilight set in, the last rays of the day's sun beginning to disappear behind the mountains' horizon.

The heavy heat of the forge still lingered in the air as he put away his tools and turned down the fires. His forehead was damp with sweat and his arm muscles ached with a pleasant burning sensation; today had been a good day's work.

Alone, he paused by the final fire and felt his mind wander to what his life could have been; certainly it could have been better, yes, but he had also had worse years. He refused to smile, in fact his nephews had once suggested that he'd forgotten how, they had seen him so briefly do so, but he was at least pleased with his situation, given the circumstances.

He doused the last flames and located his heavy fur coat on the hook on the wall. Despite the warmth of the forge, outside it was the middle of winter, and it was a harsh one at that. The snow was thick and heavy, the chill impossible to be rid of, and food was growing scarce as the cold months refused to give up their tight hold.

He was fastening his coat when Fili pushed his way into the room. Despite the cold outside, he appeared flushed, his face red as he flustered around the small place, until his eyes fell onto his uncle.

'What's wrong Fili?' Thorin asked, as he absently considered his evening meal, his stomach rumbling beneath the now too warm layers. He wanted to get home sooner rather than later.

'It's Kili,' Fili said. 'He's missing.'

'Missing?' Thorin asked, all thoughts of food forgotten. 'What do you mean, missing?'

'He went out hunting and he's not back,' Fili said.

'Could it not be that he's running late?' Thorin asked.

'He's already over an hour late!' Fili protested.

'Alright, alright,' Thorin held up his hand to stall another outburst. 'An hour is hardly something to worry about.' But that hardly stopped his or Fili's fear… and there was something else, something pressing at the back of his mind.

'Uncle… you're not kidding anyone.'

Thorin grumbled.

'Let's head home,' Thorin said. 'We'll give him another hour. _Then_ we can start worrying.'

'If mother was here she wouldn't let you or I wait another hour,' Fili argued as Thorin marched out of the forge. 'She wouldn't have even waited the first hour. Kili isn't one to be late.' Dis had travelled down to the harbour in autumn to catch the winter working season, and planned to return once the snow had receded from the common paths.

Outside the last trails of sunlight had finally vanished behind the mountain, and the deep snow gleamed with a ghostly flare as the moon haphazardly cast its softer gaze. In the sky heavy cloud was begin to trail in; soon the moon wouldn't be in site at all.

'On the contrary, your brother is the exemplification of someone who has never watched a clock in his life!'

'Yes. I know. But he is a serious hunter, and as much as he might act stupid he's pretty damn clever when he's out in the mountains. He's careful when he's up there; that's why he told me when he'd be back; so we would worry if he didn't return. He would know the trouble he'd cause if he returned late.' Fili argued. 'Don't ever let him know I said he was clever, but I do think there is more than enough cause for concern.'

Thorin frowned at his nephew as he led the way up the quiet path to the clustered huts just further ahead. There it was again, that something pushing at him, ticking over slowly in the back of his head.

'The mountains…' he murmured. Then all the colour slid from his face as he stopped and caught Fili by the arm. 'Which mountain? Which way did he go?'

'Scarafell. The south face,' Fili said, watching as fear began to clamp down in his uncle's face, before the older dwarf composed himself. 'Uncle what's wrong?'

Thorin started to half run towards the huts.

'Why weren't you with him?' Thorin asked. 'Were you here?'

'I was helping Balin guide the merchants down the west path,' Fili said.

'You didn't hear it then?'

'Hear what? Uncle, what's going on?'

'There was an avalanche,' Thorin explained as he neared Dwalin's door and then hammered at it incessantly, 'on the south face of Scarafell. Just a little before midday.'

Fili's face fell as Dwalin opened the door with a grumble.

'What in the name of-' he paused when he saw his guest. 'Thorin. What's going on?'

'Did you see the avalanche on Scarafell earlier today?'

'I didn't see it, no,' Dwalin said. 'I heard it though. Loud as ever those things. Probably turn you deaf if you ever heard one up close.'

'Kili was up there.'

Dwalin gave both Thorin and Fili a measured look. Outside there was nothing but darkness as the moon began to disappear behind the clouds. A light fluttering of snow began to shower the chilled air.

'You'd better come in then,' Dwalin said. He led Thorin and Fili through to his kitchen where a fire was casting off heat from its flames. 'Have you eaten?'

'No,' Thorin said.

'There's stew left on hob. Eat it. You too Fili, my lad. You're going to need the strength.'

'Dwalin…'

'Eat!' Dwalin slammed two bowls on the table with a loud bang. 'Eat. I'll be back soon.'

Dwalin left them to it and stormed out of his house. Thorin glared at where his friend had been standing only moments before, but then made a move to fill the bowls up.

'Uncle…' Fili sounded wary.

'Dwalin's right. Even if you don't, I need to; I haven't eaten in hours.'

Thorin began to eat hastily, and Fili finally joined him, though he ate much more slowly and tentatively.

The bowls were finished when Dwalin returned, with Gloin, Oin, Bofur, and Balin in tow.

'Dwalin's explained what's going on,' Balin interceded before either Thorin or Fili could speak; he looked at them with sympathy, as did the others in their small party. He laid a map out over the table and used the empty bowls to hold it open. 'Fili, could you tell us what you know of Kili's route, and also what time he set out this morning?'

Fili learnt over the map and took the stick of charcoal that Balin offered him.

'He set off just before dawn,' Fili said. 'He was planning on making his way to the forest on the east side, here,' he marked the area. 'By my reckoning he'd have reached there by the early afternoon at the latest.'

'But he wouldn't have arrived by midday?'

'I doubt it,' Fili said. 'This is the route we usually take when he travel it together, but I can't be sure he didn't deviate from it. Besides, if there was an avalanche, shouldn't we be looking further down?'

The other dwarves shuffled uncertainly.

'What?' Fili asked.

'Look, my lad,' Bofur came forward, resting a hand on Fili's shoulder, only for it to be shrugged off. 'Look… even if he survived the avalanche, chances are he's buried. Deep. There may be no way to find him before the snow thaws.'

'That would mean leaving him to die!' Fili argued.

'Now I never said we weren't going to look,' Bofur protested, holding his hands up in surrender. 'It's just… well, you need to be prepared for the fact that it might just not be possible to… er…' Bofur finally shrugged and took a step back, looking for support from the others. He found it from the most unexpected source.

'Bofur's right Fili,' Thorin said. 'The chances that Kili survived the avalanche are slim; the chances of us finding him, even more so. But we are going to look for him. _Right now_.'

'Too right,' Balin said conversationally, as if all Thorin had proposed was a desire for dessert. 'Now then, Thorin, Fili, Dwalin, Bofur, and Gloin shall follow this path at a steady rate. Fili you're going to have to judge where Kili might have been at about the time of the avalanche. You can begin you're downward search from there. Oin and I shall stay here and make preparations for your arrival back.'

'We'll leave once we're all ready,' said Gloin. 'No more than fifteen minutes.'

Fili and Thorin returned home to dress appropriately and to prepare their gear. Returning to Dwalin's no less than ten minutes later, Balin added more supplies to their packs, and Fili watched with rising apprehension as Oin carefully packed a medical kit in his brother's sack.

'Are we all ready?' asked Bofur, to which he heard the murmurings of assent. 'Well then. We'd best be off.'

Bofur strolled out of the house without so much as a second glance back, and the others hurried after him. Thorin reached him and matched his pace as the two of them led the small group.

'What are you doing here?' Thorin asked.

Bofur looked at him, looking not even a little affronted at the question, in fact, he smiled.

'I am not a fighter, or a hunter, or a doctor for that matter; and I am not his family, but I am his friend,' Bofur said. 'And besides… I am very well versed in avalanches… I know what makes them tick.'

Thorin looked at the dwarf with some level of surprise; while it was true that the toymaker was apt at figuring out how things worked… how they were put together, and pulled apart, he hadn't thought an avalanche would fall into that category.

'There's a story in there somewhere,' Thorin said.

'For another time perhaps,' Bofur said as the path steepened. He set a steady pace and began to climb. 'Looks like a storm's coming.'


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N - Can I just say that you guys have been well an truly awesome. Your response to this story has been great so far, and it really does encourage me to keep on writing (although I would continue to publish even if I didn't get any reviews). Anyway, a huge, resounding THANK YOU! :D**

**ps. If anyone got the reference to the mountain Scarafell in the previous chapter then you get extra brownie points :)**

**Hopefully this chapter isn't too ramble-ly.**

**Disclaimer:- I do not own The Hobbit. I am not making a profit.**

* * *

It was impossible for Kili to figure out how much time had passed since the avalanche had struck. He had fallen unconscious after he'd been hit in the head, probably from a piece of debris or lose rock, so even though he could guess that he'd been awake in the cave for at least a good few hours, he didn't know how long he'd slept for.

After realising that he had been swept into a cave by the avalanche he had done his best to map the space out properly, tracing the cold rock surface above his head. He had managed to surmise that the left hand wall, with the low snow ceiling, was the cave's entrance, and it was definitely packed tightly with snow. While it was reassuring to know that he was not entirely buried, so to speak, the back of the cave bore no escape route… it did, however, provide an air source.

He hadn't found it immediately, but after circling the small space twice his injured leg had finally protested that it had reached its limit and he had slumped against the back wall… the cave wall. At first he had been breathing heavily, panting as he got the pain back under control, before slowing his breathing down. He had rested his head against the snow wall and sat silently as he had tried to get his thoughts together

It was quiet, no more than a faint hissing sound, but his keen ears had picked up the sound. Shifting slightly he had listened into the utter darkness, and then scooted along the wall until he found its source.

The gap was no more than the size of an arrowhead, but as he placed his hand in front of it he could feel the steady stream of cold air whistling through the wall from outside.

He laughed out loud and slumped against the wall as a smile spread across his face.

'Oh thank you Mahal,' he said. 'Thank you.'

It had been the one thing he had been refusing to think about, because although he had no food or water, running out of air had really been the most pressing, and the most terrifying problem with his predicament. But he had air, an unlimited supply it would seem; although it may be a thin supply, he wasn't going to run out before help arrived… if help arrived.

Sitting in the cave, his stomach grumbling and his leg throbbing Kili now tiredly wondered how long it had been since the avalanche. He knew that Fili would begin to worry if he didn't return in the evening, and he hoped that his brother and uncle would actually come and look for him, rather than presume he was late. Of course, there was the small issue of the fact that they would have to search the entire mountain side to even be in with a slight chance of finding him, but, like the issue of the air before, there was nothing he could do about it, so it wasn't something he was going to waste time worrying about.

His stomach grumbled loudly again and he stared down at it with indignation, not that he could actually see a damn thing in the darkness of the cave.

'Hurry up Fili,' he muttered to himself. 'I'm hungry.'

There it was again; that urge to laugh. He was talking to himself… no, not even that… he was talking to his _brother_ who wasn't even here… who _thankfully_ wasn't here.

'Because that's all we need,' Kili continued to speak out loud. 'Both of us stuck in here.'

Kili snorted in disgust at the very idea of it and then laid his head back against the ice. It felt cold but he was tired and didn't really have the energy or the motivation to move it. Something in the back of his mind was trying to tell him something, but he wasn't in the mood to listen. He had air, he could survive for a while without food or water… he was going to be okay.

'I'm okay,' he mumbled as he started to drift off. 'I'm okay…'

It was when he re-awoke, some time later, that he became very aware that he most definitely was not okay. He tried to move his head, but it felt too heavy to move, and he groaned loudly. He tried waiting for the fog to clear, but it didn't; he felt as if there was an orc sitting on him.

He tried to shift his arms, and only then did he become fully aware of the chill that was clinging to his skin… an ache in his bones that he couldn't shift. Somehow he hadn't noticed it as much before, but now he was very, very aware of how cold it was. His furs still felt damp, and he had no way to warm up… no light source, no heat.

When he'd been moving around he'd obviously managed to keep the worse of it at bay, but being still for however many hours hadn't done him any favours. With some effort he pushed his head off the wall and tried to stand; it was then that he noticed that the cold was the least of his problems.

His injured leg wasn't just cold… it was numb.

He couldn't feel his foot, and the pain was all but gone, which, as irritable as it had been, it was not something you wanted to be doing without when the bone was actually sticking out of your skin, not if you wanted your leg to keep on functioning.

He slowly leaned forward and probed the area. The bone hadn't shifted, that he could tell anyway, but there must be something more wrong with his leg for it to have grown so numb of feeling. He wasn't a doctor, but he knew it wasn't good.

He leant back against the wall as a shiver trembled through his body, feeling properly scared for the first time since he had first awoken in the pitch black of this icy walled chasm.

Yes, he had air, and the rocks of the cave had protected him, but the cold had settled in, and he had no way of properly treating his injuries. There was no way out, he realised, and that was that.


	5. Chapter 4

**AN - Hey all! So sorry this has taken a little over a week; a combination of essays, work, and some personal family stuff (I won't go into more details) has kept me more than a little busy. However, I have written a longer chapter than I usually do, so hopefully that makes up for the slight delay. Thank you for all your reviews/favourites/follows - I love you all!**

**ps. Well done to Syblime for figuring out where the name Scarafell came from! I give you a virtual chocolate bar as a reward :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hobbit!**

* * *

The group travelled well into the night.

By the time they reached the west face of the mountain, about where Fili estimated Kili had gotten to before the time of the avalanche, they had passed midnight.

The moon was now covered with layers of thick cloud and there was little light to see by. As the small group of dwarves had made their steep ascent, and had finally lost sight of the cluster of village lights below, they had lit torches to find their path through the snow.

As they turned onto the west face of the mountain they were met with an onslaught of wind that pummelled their faces. Bofur flinched momentarily before rapidly batting his eyelids to clear the stinging sensation that the wind had left behind. Fili jostled his torch momentarily as he pulled his furs more tightly around his neck, but didn't slow down.

The group continued on towards the woodland on the other side, visible from across the flat surface of the mountain but still some distance away. After about a ten minutes' walk Bofur stopped and held a hand up.

'What is if Bofur?' grumbled Thorin, raising his voice a little so as to be heard over the howl of the wind.

'We need to split up,' Bofur said as he pulled his hat tighter over his head absentmindedly with his spare hand.

'This wind is wild, and snow's going to start dropping down on us any minute now,' Thorin said. 'We can't afford to lose sight of each other.'

'Look Thorin, I know how these things work,' Bofur said. 'If we are going to be in with even the smallest chance of finding Kili then we need to split up. This mountain is huge and we simply won't find him if we just traverse it.'

Thorin remained silent as he thought about this. Even as the two dwarves talked snow was beginning to descend from the clouds above. At first it was nothing but a light, trickling shower, but it would get thicker and, if the wind was anything to go by, definitely wilder.

'Thorin?' Fili asked his uncle anxiously.

'I hate to say it Thorin, but he's right,' added Dwalin half-heartedly. He fierce dwarf scowled and glared at the sky, as if looking at it would make the snow stop it in its tracks.

'Alright,' Thorin sighed. 'What do you suggest then Bofur?'

'Well, we need to each head down the mountain a little way, I mean straight down,' Bofur said. Thorin looked like he was about to interrupt but Bofur had already started to side-step down the slope as he spoke. 'We need to put about 70 feet between each of us. And then we each head down the slope at a diagonal; crisscrossing down it. You keep your light up. You look for anything distinctive. His pack, a weapon, a scabbard. We find that, and we'll know roughly which vertical line to follow.

'It'll be slow work, and tedious. And we might still miss something because it's so bloody dark, and because of this blasting snow, but it is the best way to approach something of this scale. When we reach the tree line we drop further down and repeat the process. That make sense to y'all?'

'Not a bad plan,' Dwalin said. 'Fili take the top route, stay where you are and start heading across. Thorin should take the next tier. Come on the rest of you.'

Bofur seemed a little surprised that Dwalin had answered instead of Thorin, but then again, Thorin was now making moves to follow both his and Dwalin's instructions. Bofur watched the gruff king curiously, but could barely make out his face as the snow began to fall more thickly.

'Come on then Bofur,' Dwalin muttered. 'This was your plan.'

The remaining three dwarves traipsed down the mountain side and began their long trip across the mountain face.

/\/\/\/\/

Thorin squinted against the flurry of snow. He held his torch out before him and walked slowly and steadily, wading through the deep snow.

He didn't like to admit it, but he wasn't overly hopeful about finding Kili. It was dark, the storm was getting more and more intense, and he could barely see more than a foot in front of him. That, and the fact that his nephew was more than likely buried under more than a foot of snow, maybe without air… maybe…

He shook his head sharply.

'Stop it,' he snapped to himself.

Images of Dis came to his mind; a reminder of her last words to him before she had headed down the mountain before the winter season. He'd promised to look after them… he'd promised.

'Why Kili?' he whispered. But he knew it wasn't fair to blame Kili. It wasn't his fault. There was nothing he could have done to stop an avalanche. And that was why, Thorin realised, he was so angry; there wasn't anything that anyone could have done. The avalanche was a force of nature; only Mahal had the power to stop it.

Tiredly Thorin scanned the mountain side. He gripped his torch tightly as a cold shiver ran down his back. He hadn't slept since before sunrise that morning and he'd worked for the entire day, practically non-stop. He wasn't willing to admit it, but he was tired, too tired to be up on this mountain in the middle of the night, and yet, there wasn't anywhere else he would be right now.

/\/\/\/\/

Fili was desperate in his search. He moved at a slightly quicker pace than Thorin was going at below him, not that he could see his uncle, the snow was so dense.

'I should have been with you,' Fili said. 'If I'd known earlier… if I'd just…' He continued to ramble as he scrambled through the snow, almost putting out the flame of his torch at one point when he stumbled and dropped it.

After that he slowed down a bit; he knew that it would be next to impossible to find anything of Kili's in the snow; the mountain was vast and the avalanche had churned it up so much that he was sunken down to his knees as he pushed forward.

When he finally reached the treeline he had found nothing and with a disheartened sigh, he skidded straight down the mountain couple of hundred feet and then turned to make another diagonal trip back across the mountain.

/\/\/\/\/

Hours passed, and although the cloud remained a dense blanket across the sky, the snow wasn't falling quite so thickly. It was getting lighter; day was fast approaching and they still had found nothing.

They'd each criss-crossed the mountain several times and found nothing; Fili was now heading back in the direction of the treeline.

Then he heard it. It was faint, but it sounded like a voice; someone shouting. He lifted his torch and looked as far as he could, trying to find the source of the noise.

He saw it then; below him, the dark shadow of who must have been his uncle, waving his arms in a wide arc, trying to get his attention. Fili started to make a quick descent down the mountain, sliding down the snow and almost falling over at one point, until he became level with his uncle.

'Gloin's found something,' Thorin announced before heading in a diagonal descent to where Fili could see Gloin, who remained standing still.

The two Durin-folk reached Gloin quickly and, as they approached, Fili could make out Bofur, and a little further away still, Dwalin, climbing back up the mountain to reach them. Thorin had no patience to wait though.

'What have you found?' he demanded.

'I believe this is the young Kili's pack,' Gloin said, handing the pack over. It was made of dark and well-worn leather; Kili had had it for many years, but the shoulder strap had quite clearly broken clean. Fili inspected the contents and found the water pouch, frozen solid and mostly still full, and the food rations that Kili had brought with him for the day's hunt; he'd been travelling light.

'He doesn't have any food and water with him,' Fili said. 'That's all he took with him.'

Dwalin and Bofur had finally reached the group as Thorin now took the pack and checked it as well. Bofur seemed a little breathless, and, after pushing the base of his torch into the ground, panted loudly with his hands on his hips.

'Might still have his weapons though,' he said somewhat brightly while his chest heaved. The others looked at him. 'Well, he'll at least have his knife with him I'd imagine.'

'You can't know that,' said Fili.

'The power of positive thinking,' Bofur said with a grin. 'This is an excellent find.'

'All it tells us is that he has no food or water!' said Thorin, exasperated.

'On the contrary,' said Bofur. 'It tells us that he is more than likely somewhere below this point, I'd say, no more than… maybe twenty metres either side of this spot. I'd advise we spread out across this line and start heading straight down… see what we can find.'

'What's to say he isn't above this spot?' Gloin asked.

'Kili is heavier than the pack,' Bofur explained. 'Heavier falls faster. Come on. Let's go.'

Bofur started walking off to his right, and Dwalin, after watching the other dwarf with a perplexed frown, headed to the left, pulling Thorin with him. Fili ran to catch up with Bofur before the toy-maker began his descent.

'Hey Bofur!' he called.

'Yeah?'

'Thank you for… you used the present tense, so… thanks.'

Bofur doffed his fur hat.

'Nothing to it my lad,' he said. 'Now, how about you head a little further along and we'll see what we can turn up.'

Fili nodded and headed off as Bofur started to slip and slide down the mountain. As he picked out his path it was all Bofur could do to stop the tears from welling up.

* * *

**I should probably point out at this stage that I know very little about the ins and outs of avalanches, but hey, these guys are travelling through a fictional land so I'm allowed a little creative licence aren't I?**


	6. Chapter 5

**AN - Thank you everyone for your continued support, reviews, favourites and follows. I love every single one I get. I'm trying to keep this story updated at least once week, but sorry if it takes an extra day or two... got a few things going on at home at the moment and with that and essays and work shifts that end at 11 at night sometimes I really just don't have time to write. But enough of my excuses; you don't want to hear about my drama, you want a story... so here you go!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hobbit. I am not making a profit.**

* * *

Kili couldn't stop shivering.

He sat there in the pitch dark, numb and cold, and shivering uncontrollably. His teeth chattered noisily and he hummed loudly as he tried to force his lips together. All the time thinking: what use was a cave and air if he was going to die of hypothermia anyway.

He felt his eyes start to drift closed and he snapped his head up in attempt to stop himself from drifting off; he needed to stay awake.

'Stay awake… come on Kili… they'll be here…' he began to ramble, in the hopes of staying conscious. 'They'll be here…' he whispered again.

As he mumbled somewhat incoherently, wrapping his arms tightly around his chest, his good leg pulled up, he shivered and felt cold tears spike his eyes.

Beyond him there was nothing but darkness.

/\/\/\/\/

The dwarves had been descending the mountain at a steady pace, but if they were honest, they didn't know what they were looking for; there was little chance that they would just find Kili sitting in the snow waiting for them.

'The power of positive thinking,' Fili found himself muttering, looking over to where Bofur was side-stepping down the mountain. His head was down and his hat covered much of the sides of his face, and so Fili couldn't make that much out… but something wasn't quite right.

The sun had begun to rise and the white sheet of snow that blanketed the mountain was already beginning to shine a luminous bright reflection of light.

There was now plenty of light to see by and Fili could now clearly see Bofur's stance. He took note of the other dwarf's hunched shouldered, his bent head, and the slightly tremor that rippled through his back as he skidded down the snow haphazardly.

'What's wrong?' Fili finally asked loudly, drawing Bofur's attention and Gloin's a little way away, although he then looked back to his path down the mountain.

Bofur cleared his throat noisily and slowed his descent a little to look at Fili.

'What d'ya mean?' he asked.

'Something's up with you,' Fili said. 'What's wrong?'

'There's nothing wrong,' Bofur protested, looking back down his route and stepping down the slope.

'Bofur I've known you all my life and now my brother's missing and you're the only one who seems to know what to say or what to do,' Fili said. 'Please don't lie to me.'

Bofur didn't look back for a couple of steps until he finally slowed down to a complete stop. He turned and looked Fili right in the eye and the younger dwarf could see his red rimmed eyes.

'Have you been-'

'Yes,' Bofur cut him off. 'Because as much as I might think positively about this situation, and as much as I want to best to happen, I can't ignore the fact that the last time I encountered an avalanche I lost my best friend.'

Fili stared wordlessly at the toymaker who wringed his hands awkwardly.

'Got to think positively though,' he continued, putting on a somewhat forced jovial tone. 'Positive thinking is all that helped me survive that same avalanche. It can help us find Kili too.'

'What happened?' Fili finally asked.

'For another time,' Bofur brushed off, and then started moving more quickly down the mountain. Fili watched him for another moment, feeling his fear for Kili swell, before finally placing another foot out before him.

He never got a chance to take a full step, however, because the snow shifted violently beneath his foot and the next thing he knew he had fallen on his back and was being dragged down the side of the mountain.

He yelled in surprise as he scrambled to try and stop his momentum, but without any success.

'Fili!' he heard Bofur call behind him, mixed with more distant calls that he couldn't quite make out.

Fili's fear became complete as the rumbling sound of the snow echoed in his ears and then, almost blissfully, there was silence. He lay very still for a moment, and once he ascertained that he wasn't going to get carried off again he sat up.

He turned and looked up the mountain to see Bofur powering down the mountain towards him, and the other dwarves running not that far behind him.

'I'm okay!' he called out, and then laughed, almost hysterically. 'I'm okay.' It hadn't been avalanche, just some lose snow… he'd just lost his footing.

He took stock of his surroundings and found that while he was pushed up against a pretty hard bank of snow, the powder was loose around him and not compact at all, nor had it been along the route he'd just fallen down, which was why he'd lost his footing in the first place.

'Are you okay?' Bofur demanded worriedly.

'Yes, yes,' Fili nodded as the toymaker helped him stand up. 'I'm alright. I just… the snow was loose was all.'

'Fili?!' Thorin shouted as he, too came close to reaching his oldest nephew.

'I'm alright uncle,' Fili said. 'I just lost my footing. I'm alright.'

'Oh, thank Mahal,' Thorin muttered; he was almost white beneath his beard.

'Why's the snow so loose?' Gloin asked. 'It's fine further along the mountain side.'

'It must have built up against something,' Dwalin said. 'You can see how deep it is here if you follow Fili's tracks. It didn't have anywhere to go so it must have just all piled up.'

'Must be something pretty big buried underneath this wall,' Bofur said, tapping the hardened wall that Fili had come to settle against. As he did so, however, he paused. 'Oh.'

/\/\/\/\/

Kili mumbled to himself, talking to the darkness in an attempt to stay awake, but he was beginning to lose what felt to him to be an epic battle.

The loud thumping sound that crashed through the cave interrupted him. He jerked his head, as if he would suddenly see something, but still there was nothing but darkness.

'Hello?' he called out… nothing.

'Brilliant,' he muttered. 'Now I'm imagining things.'

The silence rang in the air for a minute or two and his eyes began to droop once more but then he heard something else. It wasn't as loud as before but the brief knocking sound still echoed around his little cave.

'Hello?' he called again but there was still no answer and he felt his energy waning once more as his brief boost of adrenaline waivered.

But then there it was again. His heart was now hammering in his chest. Three knocks this time. Repetitive. Deliberate.

Help had arrived.


	7. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hobbit. I am not making a profit.**

* * *

Adrenaline was a wondrous thing. Later, this would be the only reason that Kili would be able to justify the fact that, moments before drifting off into what would likely have been an eternal sleep, he was now able to scramble to the other side of the cave.

It was a painful and rather uncoordinated process given the fact that his leg was practically numb, but he managed to limp haphazardly towards the sound of knocking that was echoing around the small space. By the time he reached the snow wall his leg was tingling and sharp shooting pains stabbed at him every time he moved it… but he made it.

Gasping in harsh ragged breaths he hammered at the wall as hard as he could.

'I'm here,' he tried to shout, but his throat was dry and he ended up croaking the words. He coughed, and then purposely coughed, clearing his throat as best he could.

'I'm here!' he shouted again, this time successfully raising his voice. He continued to hammer against the hard ice wall. 'Help!' Please help! I'm buried!'

/\/\/\/\/

On the other side of the snow wall Bofur looked up and grinned at the rest of the dwarves.

'You hear that Fili, my lad?' he said.

The dwarves strained their ears to listen, but they could hear it as clear as Bofur; there was definitely someone buried there. He was alive. And odds were it was Kili… in fact, Fili _knew_ it was.

'We need to dig at this wall,' Thorin said. 'Come on.'

The dwarves collected their axes from their packs and belts and started to do what dwarves did best; they started digging… they mined for the most precious of things, more valuable, even, than the Arkenstone.

/\/\/\/\/

The noise of unmistakeable.

He may have never lived in a mine, but Kili would recognise the sound of axes hammering away anywhere.

He laughed a huge barking laugh.

And then he slumped. All his adrenaline left him in one fell swoop and he dropped like a stone as the pain that was crawling up his previously numb leg roared in his ears, drowning out the sound of the axes.

As he fell, he couldn't figure out why it was that he suddenly felt so hot.

/\/\/\/\/

'I have stone here,' Dwalin called out to the others. 'It must be some kind of cave. Of all the places…'

'He's lucky,' Bofur agreed as he continued picking away at the snow. 'If it weren't for the cave it's likely that he'd have been buried in a place too small to keep him supplied with air.'

Thorin's eyebrows furrowed as he looked across at the dwarf. How could Bofur be so realistic about what could, and probably _should_ have happened, and yet have been so optimistic as he had practically led the others over the mountain? It was, however, a question for another time.

Gloin's axe pummelled the snow and then, all of a sudden, it fell away.

'Over here!' he called to the others.

They frantically moved to pull the last of the snow away from the opening. It was a deep passage way, and they had dug through several feet of snow, but they could see the hollow space through the gap they'd created.

'Kili?' Fili called out loudly.

There was no response.

'Kili? Answer me!'

But still there was nothing. Dwalin helped Gloin pull the last of the snow away, and then pushed through the gap before either Thorin or Fili could get a look in; he needed to not just protect Kili, but the King and older Prince also.

Kili lay in a heap on the ground. His leg was splinted, and Dwalin recognised that the wood he had used was from the bow Balin had given him. Dry blood caked the side of his head, and his face was ashen. But he was breathing.

'Kili?' he said quietly, but with command. 'Kili, open your eyes.'

Kili groaned, stirring slightly. His eyes opened at half-mast, but then he became still once more.

'He's alive, but we need to get him back to Oin as soon as possible,' Dwalin told the others. 'Make a stretcher up.'

'Already started,' Bofur called back. A minute later he pushed the board through the hole and Dwalin pulled Kili onto it. The young dwarf mumbled but that was all.

'Come on lad,' Dwalin said quietly, and with startling gentleness. 'Let's get you home.'


	8. Chapter 7

**AN:- Okay... so I owe everyone a HUGE, HUGE apology. I am so, so sorry for disappearing for 2 weeks. Basically I had essay deadlines and family stuff going on all in one big go and I got completely bogged down in it. However... deadlines are over and I have ample time to write now so I should be back on track. I have written a longer chapter for you all, to make up for my long absence, and I also have another idea already floating around in my head which is provisionally called 'Crushed'. The fact that I've written that here will hopefully motivate me to actually write it down for you all to read.**

**So, there we go. Now on with the story.**

**Disclaimer:- I do not own The Hobbit.**

* * *

Dwalin held the front of the stretcher, while Gloin had a hold of Kili's legs. Fili had held onto Kili's hand for some time, trying to rouse his brother, but to no avail. Eventually, seeing that his nephew's efforts were actually slowing the group, Thorin ordered him to walk ahead with Bofur. Fili meant well, but his fear was clouding his judgement.

Thorin took up Fili's position beside Kili, but continued to walk at a brisk pace. As he walked, he was able to properly take in his youngest nephew's condition. Beneath the furs, Thorin knew that Kili's leg was broken; the bone had actually been sticking out through the flesh. Kili had obviously done his best to splint it, but the injury needed attention sooner rather than later.

There was also a rather obvious bloody gash that disappeared into his dark hairline. The blood was a harsh red that, although long dried, was still glaringly dense against the pale complexion of his nephew's skin; whether blood loss, the cold, or oxygen deprivation was the cause, the result still meant that Kili was almost as white as the snow that had built his prison.

When Dwalin had heaved Kili out of his tomb he had been ice cold and shivering violently. He still trembled now, and murmured occasionally and incoherently, but the rest of the group had since covered him with as many furs as possible to try and keep the heat in. Gloin had checked him over quickly and wrapped the injured leg tighter still, but had been loath to 'mess with his head' as he had said; head injuries were tricky and he didn't want to do any more damage to it.

Once Gloin had made his rudimentary medical assessments, he and Dwalin and taken up the stretcher without even a word between them, not allowing either Fili or Thorin the opportunity to protest. Bofur took up the remaining loose items that were left on the ground and shouldered them, before making a path through the snow, guiding the group up the slope that they had previously descended.

Thorin, who had been holding Fili back since Dwalin had pulled Kili free, finally released him and allowed the blonde prince to descend upon his brother with a fretful and anxious step and hand movements where he finally clutched his brother's own hand.

As he now looked ahead at Fili's back, his shoulders hunched as he climbed the mountain with Bofur at his side, Thorin couldn't help but feel a flutter of pride for Fili's loyalty to his brother, and yet, there was fear there too, for if Fili were to be king one day, his love for Kili could very well be his undoing.

Beside him Kili moaned as the stretcher jolted unsteadily, his head twisting slightly, although his eyes remained closed. Thorin smiled with an unusual tenderness, but also with an ample amount of uncertainty, at his youngest nephew.

Ahead, Fili was fighting the urge to turn around. Almost as if sensing his intention, Bofur raised a hand and settled it on the young prince's arm.

'He's not going anywhere lad,' Bofur said, a little breathlessly as he powered up the mountainside, carving a path through the snow as he did, so as to make the climb easier for the stretcher-bearers. 'He's in good hands.'

'I know,' Fili huffed, and then turned around anyway. He met Dwalin's eye and the gruff dwarf gave him a stern, but somewhat kind look. Thorin's attention remained on Kili, and he did not notice that he was being watched. For all that the disgruntled king played the abrupt leader, the tenderness and fear on his face right now was enough to prove to Fili that his uncle did care, even if he only ever exuded the most stoic of exteriors.

'So I was going to tell you about what happened back with my friend,' Bofur said, drawing Fili's attention back around.

'What?'

'My friend that got caught in the avalanche,' Bofur said. 'I told you that positive thinking was a powerful thing, something I think we've proven here today, don't you think.'

'You were going to tell me about it, yeah,' Fili nodded, remembering now. 'But if you don't want-'

'If I didn't want to, I wouldn't have brought it up,' Bofur said as he waved his hand. He stubbornly pushed ahead, and Fili struggled to actually keep up with the toymaker. Although Bofur _had_ brought it up, he also looked not too happy about the subject matter.

'So… anyway,' Bofur started. 'Me and my friend, known each other since we were wee kids we had, his name was Farir… anyway, he and I used to go out up into the mountains to collect stone and the like for making toys and bits. My uncle taught us both our craft.

'So we went out this one time and we were, I guess a few decades older than Kili and yourself. It was late winter, nearly spring actually, but there was still a lot of snow on the ground. We found what we were after, some light alabator stone off the north ridge, and we were heading back and… I've never heard anything like it, and, quite truthfully, I never want to hear anything like it ever again.

'The roar… Mahal save me from that almighty sound.' Bofur shivered involuntarily, and Fili couldn't help but glance back in his brother's direction and wonder what he'd heard when the avalanche had fallen upon him. Certainly the avalanche's rumble echoed loudly enough for miles around.

'I got so swept up by the snow and the current of the avalanche that I didn't know what way was up, and had barely air in my lungs to breathe by,' Bofur continued, the flaps of his hat dipping slightly as he waded through the snow. They had long since reached the top of the mountain and were now traversing the ridge back to the village. 'When I finally stopped moving I was in a space so small I could barely move, and I knew that there was very little air to be had. Couldn't see a damn thing either.

'I figured, and this is where the first stroke of positive thinking comes in, that I would only live if I dug my way free before my air ran out. Of course, I didn't know which way was up, and I couldn't see worth a damn, but, you know, positive thinking… figured at least _one_ way had to be up. I picked a direction and I started digging, figured that this could be my way.

I mean, I was very lucky, I could have been digging downward for all I knew, but I wasn't, and I finally reached the top. That air was the sweetest thing I've ever tasted, I can tell you,' Bofur smiled, and even let out a small stumbling laugh.

'Once I was free,' Bofur continued, sobering quickly, 'I tried to find Farir. I tried that same trick we pulled back there on the mountain. Positive thinking saved me, and it saved Kili, and I am going to be forever thankful that we were able to find your brother alive, but I couldn't find Farir.

'Finally, a search party found me digging aimlessly for Farir,' Bofur shook his head, tears spiking his eyes afresh. 'They dragged me home, but the next day I was out there looking for him, and the next after that, and so on and so forth. I looked and I dug up as much snow as I could but I didn't find him until the snow thawed.

'His head was caved in. He was probably dead before the avalanche had even stopped moving. All that debris and I didn't even have a scratch on me, but Farir…

'I've always thought, since then, that it would have been quick, you know. I like the idea that he at least didn't suffocate in the dark. For some reason I don't think I could deal with that.'

Bofur finally trailed off and Fili didn't know what to say as he watched the dwarf that always had a joke up his sleeve and a trick hidden in his other.

'Positive thinking,' Bofur finished quietly. 'The world is one big bowl of hurt, but sometimes it throws us a chance… like dumping your brother in a cave with an air supply.'

Bofur smiled softly and then looked up ahead.

'Aha,' he said, causing Fili to follow his gaze. 'Nearly there.'

The lights of the village carved their way through the dimming evening… almost within reach.


End file.
